C.F. Martin & Co. have been making top quality guitars since 1796, and are still family owned and operated out of Nazareth, PA. Martin is truly a guitar with few rivals in terms of quality, tone and boom- played by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Guy Clark and many other music legends. Martin is probably best known for their D-45 Dreadnought model (a little wider body and more squared shoulder), first crafted for Gene Autry in 1933. In my book, both Johnny and Martin are true American Icons.